Time to Roam Magazine Issue 5 - October/November 2013 | Page 18
From little things,
big things grow
The Amazing Properts, a family of great inventors
If you grew up in Australia
in the 20th century, chances
are your life has been made
easier by a Propert.
Folding Caravans are one of many
treasured products designed and
built by this inventive family.
John and Emma Propert emigrated
from England in 1877 and produced 11
children including several sons with a
knack for design and innovation.
Thomas and Albert Propert trained
in coach building in Orange NSW and
established a motor body business in the inner
Sydney suburb of Newtown in 1910. In the
years when Australian car manufacturing
consisted of building bodies on imported
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engines and chassis, Propert established a
reputation for the very best luxury vehicles.
Perhaps the most successful Propert
son was Charles, who designed and built
kitchenware over many decades.
He started out making irrigation
equipment and is credited with inventing
and patenting the common backyard
rose sprinkler, still manufactured
and sold in their hundreds today.
Propert became a household name
when it started making all manner of
kitchen implements including flour sifters
and chip cutters. In the 1970s Propert
was Australia’s leading brand of kitchen
and bathroom scales. By far the most
successful product was a ball-driven egg
beater, trademarked as the Ezy Whisk.
In the days before electric beaters, the Ezy
Whisk was the market-leader and exported
world-wide.
Adverts in the 1950s boasted they had even
been endorsed by royalty. Apparently Queen
Mary was most impressed when she was
shown an Ezy Whisk while visiting a London
Expo one year. Whether Her Royal Highness
had any idea what the domestic appliance was
used for is doubtful.
For ordinary Australians without electric
appliances or domestic help, the Ezy Whisk
was an indispensable kitchen aid. Charles
Propert and his son Bertram manufactured
more than a quarter of a million egg beaters
a year in the early 1950s, reason why so many
are still around and used even today.
Thomas Propert and his son Thomas Junior